A noun. A verb. A blog.
Yesterday, I wrote about a “crocus” that seemed to bloom in fall, not spring. Here’s another seemingly out-of-season bloomer that’s also doing exactly what it’s meant to do. It’s the re-blooming, tall bearded Iris germanica ‘Immortality’ that puts out its main show in June, then returns for an encore performance in fall. This one was showing its […]
SEO language be damned. I can never resist turning a blog title into a bad pun or a song by the Bonzo Dog Band. In this case, both. The other day, a friend posted on Facebook with a picture of what she thought was a crocus, all mixed up in its seasons. Ever since, Colchicum-a-kama-sutra has been playing on my […]
Yes, they can look stiff and formal. But I like glads because they remind me of our mother. Not only because Gladiolus is August’s birthday flower, and August 31st – today – was her birthday. It’s because of a piece of art she made, a print of some coral-coloured gladioli. Both our parents were gifted artists. Both were art-school […]
A bouquet of tulips from my garden, in light from my window Call this post: I’m going to show you pictures of these tulips until you beg me to stop. Tulips are amazing in a vase. They continue to grow and change for days. One day, the morning light caught the bouquet I’d picked last […]
Tulipa ‘Parrot King’ is a kingly parrot tulip Yes, I’ve had problems with squirrels and tulips. Who hasn’t? It almost put me off ever planting tulips again. But I’ve learned that the best way to foil squirrels when growing tulips is to grow more tulips. Like the British way of making tea: Plant “one for […]
Hello, little snowdrop! This is our earliest-ever official Toronto Gardens snowdrop sighting – I noticed my usual earlybird snowdrop was up yesterday, February 3, 2016, but it had likely awoken a few days before. Our neighbours S and B have a nice little patch blooming in their front yard, too. Prior to this, the earliest […]
What is that – a flower spike? Could it be? It is! My Clivia is blooming! This was a year for miracles in the garden. Not only did the Hoya I’d tended for 30 years bloom for the very first time this spring – it did it three more times in succession over the summer! […]
This Ward’s Island garden whispers to me (loudly): a garden can never have too many alliums. When you invite 70 garden bloggers to Toronto in early June 2015 (after a bitter winter and a long, cool spring), you’d better hope the gardeners have planted alliums – the ornamental onion – to fill the potentially gaping […]
Do a little “Where’s Waldo-ing” on this photo, and you can see masses of happy snowdrops, finally welcoming spring. Yes, Toronto, there are snowdrops! This year, Sarah won the local snowdrops sweepstakes, with a handful blooming by her drive. Mine are mostly hibernating. But look, look, look at these in a Riverdale garden on Saturday! […]
Star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) looking dainty among some Hosta ‘Golden Tiara’ Sometimes you need plant thugs like the disarmingly pretty Star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum). A difficult spot (dry, maple-root-filled and shady, perhaps) might thank you for the toughness that brings on these bright spring flowers. Luckily, their enthusiasm has been held in check by the sandy, dry […]
This picture shows me where the white tulips are winding down As garden bloggers, we’re often trying to present only the pretty pictures – making the camera show us off to our best advantage. But as gardeners, we really need to look at the “bad side” of our gardens sometimes, using photographs as record-keepers and […]
With apologies to Judy Garland, I think the words should be: The sun is shinin’, c’mon, bee happy… You better chase all your cares away. Sing hallelujah, c’mon, bee happy… These bees certainly are. Bee happy, friends!